Experts have long suspected that complex social interaction drove the evolution of large brains in humans. Now a study in wasps supports and refines that theory: it seems that dominant individuals have larger brain regions responsible for higher-order cognitive processes.
Biologists at the University of Washington observed the behavior of paper wasps (Mischocyttarus mastigorphorus) in the Costa Rican rain forest and then measured the size of their brains. The researchers found that the so-called mushroom bodies, the lobes that underlie learning and memory in insects, were larger in dominant wasps than in their subordinate peers.
Mushroom bodies are the insect equivalent of the human neocortex, the outer layer of our brain, which handles complex cognition. Scientists have already established that the neocortex and the mushroom bodies are larger in social species such as humans and wasps, as compared with solitary animals such as bears and lone spiders. The new study suggests that competition for rank may have been a key factor in the evolution of this intelligence.
This story was originally printed with the title, "Big Brains Dominate".
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3 Comments
Add CommentWhat I find vastly more interesting are the documented cases of surgery patients in artificially induced brain death recalling conversations during surgery. Or individuals whose brains are almost entirely dissolved in spinal fluid showing normal intelligence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThese cases demonstrate pretty strongly that a brain is not required for intelligence.
Language processing is a complex process involving many areas of the brain. Wernicke's area is crucial to understanding - yes, they can remember, but can they understand? As to your closing statement, I sense sarcasm, or if not, by your own logic, you must have an enormous brain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think this has been the case for quite a while it is just apparent now when further studies have shown evidence of scientists findings, This is also true in the sstudy of rats and mice where you will find alpha males and females. www.pest3.com
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